


Familiar Stranger

by Felikid



Category: LiEat (Video Games)
Genre: (for now) - Freeform, 5+1 Things, Character Study, Gen, How did Cyril find Teo anyways?, Missing Scene, Oneshot, POV Outsider, Teo learning how to dad, except it's 2+1 and i miight do more, ft. precious bean Efina, i think? i mean
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 20:07:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25881055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Felikid/pseuds/Felikid
Summary: Cyril first sees him inside a restaurant.Well, to say that’s when shefirstsees the man would be a lie. However, it is the first time Cyrilthinksshe first saw this man for quite some time.Three times Cyril meets a man with a child named Efina. Two times, he is a stranger. The third, he is someone most familiar.
Relationships: Cyril Leonhearts & Teobaldo Leonhearts
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11





	Familiar Stranger

**Author's Note:**

> what's up everybodyyyy i'm fixating on miwashiba games atm and i've had this fic idea for literally five years. Anyways. I also wanted to include shenanigans with Teo learning how to dad, so some of that's in there.
> 
> (Also Theo who? I only know Teo, sorry)

Cyril first sees him inside a restaurant.

~~Well, to say that’s when she _first_ sees the man would be a lie. However, it is the first time Cyril _thinks_ she first saw this man for quite some time.~~

It is the day after another successful heist – one of many after Butterfly’s debut – and Gene wanted to celebrate another corrupt politician landing in jail.

In the moment, the man whose name she wouldn’t know just yet is of no note to her. He appears around twenty, his hair bright red and, strangely, wearing a scarf tight around his neck in May.

Opposite him sits a toddler in a baby chair. She – Cryil guesses she because the toddler wears a little dress – wails. The shrill sound pierces her ears, which is why she noticed the both of them in the first place.

What must be her father holds a spoon to his daughter’s face. His expression remains mostly blank, but starts edging toward despair. “Come on, say ahhh!”

The girl refuses.

“What do I do with you, Efina,” the man laments, “You have to eat, right?”

Since he appears so incompetent at raising a child, Cyril huffs in annoyance and averts her eyes from the pathetic display. When she brings the food to her lips, her judgement cools. At least he attempts to care for his child, unlike Cyril’s own parents.

That thought would be all she recalls of this particular moment, after which Enos announces the arrival of dessert.

The next time she sees that man, – or a different, similar man, who knew with how different he looked – Cyril takes the train.

All seats are taken with her brothers seated elsewhere already, and the only free seating next to a man the same age her eldest brother might’ve been – if he is still alive in any case. He has bright blue eyes and a small child, perhaps three or four years old, giggling in his lap.

“Excuse me, sir,” are her first words to him. ~~Well, not first. That is a lie.~~ “Is that seat taken?”

“Oh, no.” He looks at her, briefly flinching when he first noticed her. He must have been surprised. Her job has made Cyril rather light on her feet. ~~No, not suprise. Recognition. How conv~~ ~~enient, what people will make fit in their heads.~~

The girl on his lap, how awfully young her father is for her to be his, bites his finger. “Papa! I’m bored!”

In response, the other retrieves his now aching hand. He sighs and turns toward the window.

“What’s her name?”

“Efina.”

How strange. That name must be common. Maybe it’s sheer coincidence to meet another young man with a daughter named Efina.

~~Oh, but it’s no coincidence at all. Fate just likes to play tricks sometimes.~~

Efina babbles on about something or other and paws at Cyril’s sleeves. “Lady, I’m bored!” How adorable.

The man, Cyril hasn’t asked his name yet, pulls Efina away from Cyril. In return, the girl once again tries crawling toward her. “Don’t do that, Efina. How about a story instead?”

Efina cheers, “A story!”

“What do I tell you today,” Efina’s father muses. “How about the story of the Phantom Thief?”

Cyril jolts. “Surely you mean Butterfly?”

“No.” For the first time, Cyril notices a scar on his cheek, peeking out behind his high collar. “I mean the fairy tale of the Phantom Thief. It inspired Butterfly, I think.”

“My brother used to tell me that story,” she can’t help but reply.

She hates Teo, she does, and yet his voice turning soft as he told the same tale again and again, just because Cyril asked, remains one of her most treasured memories. How he’d pretend he hated that lofty idealism, and even still, in the dead of night Cyril would ask him to read it. And he would, teaching her to read along the way.

She wants to see him again, if only to say how much she hates him.

~~If only to say how much she – how much _all_ the Leonhearts miss him. ~~

“May I tell it? I know it almost word for word.”

“Of course,” the man says with a relieved smile.

And so Cyril starts, “Once upon a time…”

The train ride passes all too quickly.

It shutters to a stop in Indigo Town. Both Cyril and the man with Efina get off together; it’s the last stop after all.

“I’m sorry you had to entertain Efina for me,” he says. Efina interrupts with a “Hey!” and throws herself at her father’s legs. He doesn’t even twitch.

“It was no trouble at all.” Indeed, it had been quite pleasant, relieving her favourite memory. “You may call me Stephanie,” she adds.

“Al. You already know Efina.”

They both told the other _a_ name. Neither of them said its theirs.

Cyril walks away, musing. It had almost felt like she was with her brother again.

~~Well, to say _almost_ would be a lie. ~~

During the third incident, she has a revelation.

“Stephanie” had gone to Azure Town in order to “join” the Dragon Police stationed there; she snuck in without issue to obtain rather crucial information. Information on dragons. Her next target might be in possesion of one and she needs to know what to expect.

This venture in Azure Town quickly ends with a call from Vermillion: not a dragon, but a vampire plagued the townsfolk. As a new recruit, superiors hid much from her, especially as a human,

So, she plants a bug on the chief.

The chief, Neil Masefield, an immortal dragon, stands talking to a man becoming increasingly, infuriatingly familiar. It’s not Masefield’s right hand Brett Graves; the shadow dragon loiters at a distance, staring daggers at whoever Masefield is conversing with.

She does not recognize the captain’s speaking partner. She does recognize the little tagalong. Even from a distance, the little girl’s “I’m Efina! Call me Efi!” is audible to Cyril’s trained ears.

Efina? Twice is a coincidence, but thrice is a pattern. That man in the red coat is Al. Different hair, different eyes, different clothes, same daughter. But why…?

“Unless I indicate otherwise, it is our duty to protect even these two,” the captain says to Brett. He turns to leave, most likely because he has a crime scene to attend to.

Then, Al replies, “Alright. Thanks.” and even that bit is enough for Cyril to recognize. Why is Al here?

“So long then.” Masefield walks away, Graves is fuming.

It’s her chance to strike. Cyril “stumbles” once the captain walked far enough.

“Oh my goodness, sir. I apologize.” She stammers, all fake. Then, she moves to brush whatever dust might’ve landed on the captain’s coat, only to attach a small listenig device to a spot he’s unlikely to check. If she wants intel, going straight to the source is always best.

After her apology, Cyril returns to whichever post she was stationed; guarding one of the few houses with actual people inside. Some aristocrat’s daughter together with her butler. From what Cyril gathered, she’s a girl playing informant way in over her head.

Later, in the evening, Cyril’s maneuver pays its weight in gold.

She hears Efina’s voice crackle over her headphones.

Neil Masefield answers her, “Still, if you believe in him… in Teobaldo Leonhearts, we won’t interfere.”

_Teobaldo Leonhearts? He’s alive?_

He’s Al?

It infuriates Cyril.

~~It delights Cyril.~~

All these years he left them, only to go galavanting around as a con artist? Oh, how he conned them all, even as children. Somehow, she always knew Teo had a silver tongue. That’s why he had been their leader, after all.

“...Hey, that thing you said,” the bug picks up once again, “Telebald… Lionpants or something. Is that papa’s real name?”

Her brother is alive. Her brother is Efina’s father. Her brother tells his daughter of the Phantom Thief as a goodnight story.

Patience, Cyril, patience. If she acts brash now, he will slip away once again. She needs to plan.

That’s right, the girl she’s guarding. Before, she had yelled, “That Leo! He’s a hack! A con artist! This cookie isn’t rare at all!”

Rosalie Rosemarie. She has regular contact with Teo, might be an aquaintance.

It’s alright.

Cyril can work with this. Cyril will finally obtain her revenge.

~~Or maybe, her closure.~~

Al travels with a small girl named Efina.

Leo travels with his daughter Efina.

Hal travels with his little sister, the lie-eating dragon Efina.

Teo is a liar. Efina eats lies.

Cyril can work with this.

**Author's Note:**

> I miiight do a second part from Teo's perspective spanning lieat 2 and the beginning of 3. Maybe. I dunno. For now, this is a oneshot. As long as I'm thinking about miwashiba games 24/7 though I'll definetly write more about them. Probably 1bitHeart, since I'm still playing that one.
> 
> Hope y'all enjoyed thanks for reading~
> 
> Lieat is good and i love it.
> 
> Anybody else thinking about how Cyril keeping the name Leonhearts despite her grudge implies she still loves him? We don't learn that much about her, but I'd imagine she's at least a little conflicted about turning her brother into a lie-monster, even if she pretends she doesn't care. Also, her talent is "disguises" which goes along extremely well with Teo's constant name changes.
> 
> Maybe lying runs in the family.


End file.
